The makeup of our microbiomes — the unique communities of bacteria, viruses and other microbes that live in and on us — have been linked, with varying degrees of evidence, to everything from inflammatory bowel disease to athletic performance. But exactly how could such tiny organisms have such immense influences on a person? : UniversityContinue reading “How resident microbes restructure body chemistry”
Category Archives: Biochemistry
Potential superbug-killing compound
Researchers in Simon Fraser University’s Brinkman Laboratory are collaborating with U.S. researchers to test a new drug that can kill a wide range of superbugs — including some bacteria now resistant to all common antibiotics. Known as AB569, the drug contains ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (commonly referred to as EDTA) and acidified nitrite, two inexpensive chemicals thatContinue reading “Potential superbug-killing compound”
Antibiotics discovered that kill bacteria in a new way
The newly-found corbomycin and the lesser-known complestatin have a never-before-seen way to kill bacteria, which is achieved by blocking the function of the bacterial cell wall. The discovery comes from a family of antibiotics called glycopeptides that are produced by soil bacteria. The researchers also demonstrated in mice that these new antibiotics can block infectionsContinue reading “Antibiotics discovered that kill bacteria in a new way”
Russian researchers come up with faster method to discover antibiotics
Russian biochemists have identified a promising new class of antibiotics. Having studied over 125,000 molecules, they found that 2-pyrazol-1-yl-thiazole derivatives exhibit antibacterial properties. One of the discovered compounds has demonstrated a good activity and low cytotoxicity, and thus can serve as a prototype in further studies. The paper was published in The Journal of Antibiotics. TheContinue reading “Russian researchers come up with faster method to discover antibiotics”
This ‘lemon’ could help machine learning create better drugs
Purdue University drug discovery researchers have created a new framework for mining data for training machine learning models. The framework, called Lemon, helps drug researchers better mine the Protein Data Base (PDB) — a comprehensive resource with more than 140,000 biomolecular structures and with new ones being released every week. The work is published inContinue reading “This ‘lemon’ could help machine learning create better drugs”
Plant-derived SVC112 hits cancer stem cells, leaves healthy cells alone
The red, tube-shaped flowers of the firecracker bush (Bouvardia ternifolia), native to Mexico and the American Southwest, attract hummingbirds. The bush also provides the chemical bouvardin, which the lab of University of Colorado Cancer Center and CU Boulder researcher, Tin Tin Su, PhD, and others have shown to slow a cancer’s ability to make proteinsContinue reading “Plant-derived SVC112 hits cancer stem cells, leaves healthy cells alone”
How is Chemoinformatics Used in Drug Discovery?
Chemoinformatics is a relatively new principle of chemistry and is based upon the processing of data concerning chemical and molecular structures through the use of computational analysis. The analysis of these data allows the relationship between chemical structure, chemical properties, and molecular activity to be studied. It is an in silico technique, which means itContinue reading “How is Chemoinformatics Used in Drug Discovery?”
Webinar on Pharmaceutical Chemistry 